


how enchanting it is, to have met you

by Tatsumaki_sama



Series: cross your heart and hope to die [6]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Balcony Scene, Crush at First Sight, F/M, First Crush, First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Magical Realism, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 04:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15405105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatsumaki_sama/pseuds/Tatsumaki_sama
Summary: Haru meets a cat and subsequently, meets the Phantom Thief along the way.





	how enchanting it is, to have met you

**Author's Note:**

> As mentioned before, I'm not writing in chronologically order, just whatever inspiration that hits me. I adore Haru and wish there was more of her.

Haru found a cat one day near her father's main headquarters.

 

He was a small thing, with black fur and a white muzzle and little paws and the brightest blue eyes Haru had ever seen. He was injured, a bruised back hind leg, and was whimpering so pitifully that Haru's heart couldn't help but be moved.

 

If the servants noticed the larger bundle under her sweater and heard the meowing of a cat, they wisely said nothing as Haru passed them by.

 

~.~.~

 

He belonged to someone, if the yellow collar around his neck indicated anything. Strangely, there was no name or even an address for Haru to locate his owner.

 

“ Your owner must be worried about you,” she said as she combed the cat's back, making him purr in delight. “ I wonder what kind of person they are.”

 

The cat flicked its tail as he gazed out the window, blue eyes blinking in worry. It was a strangely human reaction.

 

“ Whoever they are, I'm sure they are a good person. You seem to care about them a lot.”

 

The cat meowed in response.

 

“ That reminds me. What is your name? Or perhaps should I give you a name in the meanwhile?” she asked as she scratched underneath the cat's neck. He purred, more content with receiving continued scratches and Haru laughed.

 

“ How about ... Mona-chan? I think you would prefer it more than a simpler name like Midnight or Mittens.”

 

The cat's ears twitched but he didn't complain so Mona-chan it was.

 

~.~.~

 

Mona was a great companion for Haru. She enjoyed talking to him and even if he couldn't talk back to her, Mona was curiously perceptive and always eager to listen to her problems and woes.

 

Her father would not approve of Mona's presence. Ever since Haru was young, he repeatedly turned down her requests for a pet, saying she had no need for one, dirty uncultured things that they were.

 

So Haru kept the cat hidden in her room where she knew her father would never visit and the servants would keep their distance.

 

The loneliness of her home was a little less dark and empty with Mona around to speak to. The servants were friendly but Haru was not friends with them and if it came down to obeying Haru or her father, she knew who they would choose.

 

Similarly, her father worked long hours and especially in the last few years, would rather surround himself with like-minded and powerful people than with his daughter. Haru knew her father barely tolerated her, even if they shared the same blood and the fact that Haru lived in the same home

 

Being with Mona-chan made her feel wanted, the first time in a long, long time.

 

~.~.~

 

With Mona's leg healing well, the cat was beginning to grow restless.

 

He was no longer satisfied being contained to Haru's room. Whenever Haru came home from school, Mona would try to find ways to sneak between her legs and escape through the door. It was only due to Mona's recovering leg and by luck that Haru would always scoop him up and pluck him back down onto her bed.

 

“ I'm trying to find your owner,” Haru gently told the impatient cat. “ But it's not safe for you to leave just yet. You will only hurt yourself further if you try to head out.”

 

With a frustrated sigh, Mona would settle down.

 

It might be a bit selfish of her but she had been putting off sending out flyers. Mona's company had made the last few days more bearable, with her father's constant absences and the aggressive advances of the son of a Diet member towards her.

 

But Haru could only imagine that Mona's owner was just as frantic with worry as Mona was and so she resolved that the next day after school, she would post the flyers.

 

~.~.~

 

“ So I see you have left me for the comfort of a pretty girl. Have you no shame, Morgana?”

 

A teasing voice casually breezing through the air made Haru lift her head from her textbooks and for Mona to immediately spring to his feet from his pillow.

 

Standing on top of her balcony's ledge was a young boy, dressed in a dark trench coat and silver mask that shadowed his grey eyes. Any protest Haru wanted to make vanished once she realized she was near the top floors of her home and no one would be able to climb that height.

 

No human, that is.

 

“ Oh! You're – ”

 

“ The Phantom Thief, at your service,” said person introduced himself with a low bow. “ You may call me Joker if you desire.”

 

Haru was still at a loss of words that _the_ Phantom Thief had appeared in her room in the late evening that she could only nod.

 

“ Mreow!”

 

With an enthusiastic chirp, Mona leaped from the floor and into Joker's awaiting arms. The cat buried himself against the crook of Joker's neck, purring loudly, Joker himself was smiling with a tender expression that it was hard to remember that he was a supernatural being and not human.

 

Haru thought she might have heard Joker murmuring, “ Sorry I didn't find you sooner ... thought you were captured in the Palace ... glad you are all right ...” but it was not her place to interrupt such a sweet reunion among friends.

 

Now that she had seen the Phantom Thief in person, Haru could not help but drink in the sight of him. Against the night sky, the way his trench coat billowed behind him and how his mask gleamed under the moonlight, he appeared almost like a disguised prince she had read in those fairytales, waiting and ready to take her hand and whisk her away into the starry night.

 

Haru was startled out of her thoughts when Joker turned to face her. “ Thank you for finding and taking care of my companion,” he said courteously.

 

“ It was no trouble at all,” she was quick to say. “ Mona-chan was a delightful company.”

 

“ You go by Mona-chan now?” Joker grinned at the cat who gave a half-hearted grumble in his arms.

 

“ Perhaps I should be calling him Morgana-chan,” Haru corrected herself. “ That is the name you have given him, is it not?”

 

“ More like Morgana chose it for himself,” Joker lightly hummed, giving a scratch right under Morgana's chin, exactly where the cat loved. “ He has a mind of his own. Though I'm sure he doesn't mind Mona-chan since he responded to it.”

 

Morgana chittered, one paw reaching upwards to swipe across Joker's cheek.

 

“ Yes, yes,” the Phantom Thief absently agreed. “ You're right.”

 

It seemed that Joker was not much different than her, speaking to Morgana as if he were a person and not a mere cat.

 

Morgana meowed again and this time, Joker chuckled. “ Our mutual friend will get jealous if you say that you prefer Miss Haru's way of preparing the Panama Esmeralda Geisha coffee. Though I enjoy the Jamaican Blue Mountain's aroma more.”

 

She blinked. “ You are quite knowledgeable in your coffee,” Haru breathed, more delighted than confused as to how Morgana was able to tell Joker about how she made coffee the other day and allowed the cat to inhale its rich scent or that Joker knew her name without asking her.

 

Joker's smile was wry. “ To some degree. What do you prefer, Miss Haru?”

 

Before she even knew it, Haru was already speaking about her most recent obsession, describing in detail about what she knew and loved about coffee. Like Morgana before him, Joker was both amused and interested, adding his own knowledge and opinions.

 

Haru was surprised to find such a similarity between her and the Phantom Thief. It made him appear more human than what the rumors had described him as.

 

They talked long into the night, keeping their voices hushed in case any servants passed by her room. The excitement of interacting with the Phantom Thief and finally finding someone she was comfortable enough to talk about her interests made Haru almost giddy with happiness.

 

Which was why it was bittersweet when Joker announced it was time to leave.

 

“ Your teachers won't buy me as an excuse to being late,” he teased.

 

“ If I say you sneak into my house at night to take something back, they will,” she cheerily said, making Joker chuckle.

 

“ But in all seriousness, there is something we must talk about before I go.”

 

His tone changed, making Haru sit up straighter to attention.

 

“ How shall I repay you for finding and taking care of Morgana?” Joker's voice dipped into something low and sincere and oh so _tempting_.

 

Warmth flooded into her cheeks and a strange fluttering sensation settled in her stomach. She had never felt this way towards a man before – though to be fair, the company of men she had known or were introduced to were so similar and comparable to her father that she wanted nothing to do with them.

 

It frightened and confused her how easy it was to like the Phantom Thief.

 

And how easy it was for her to be smitten by him.

 

She knew the stories as well as anyone else in the city. How the Phantom Thief would steal hearts and you would lose your soul to him and he would make you his for eternity.

 

No, Haru knew she must not allow herself to give in and allow him to weave his magic over her.

 

“ You're too kind,” she said once she found her voice. “ There is nothing to be repaid.”

 

Joker's eyes were dark and deep as he approached her. To Haru's surprise, unlike with Sugimaru, she felt no dread or the need to back away from Joker, that he was going to do something untoward and harmful to her.

 

“ But I want to,” he gently said and his words alone nearly shattered her resolve.

 

Morgana gave a loud purr, pawing at Haru's ankle, helpfully contributing to the conversation as well. “ And Morgana as well would like to thank you,” Joker added.

 

Haru giggled. She could not deny Joker's words or Morgana's appreciation. “ Let me think about it,” she finally conceded.

 

“ Then I'll make sure to come back soon,” Joker smiled.

 

Despite her efforts to not admire the way Joker's eyes crinkled in mirth when he smiled and how a dimple curving across his cheek distracted and enticed, Haru felt overjoyed to hear him say that.

 

Her emotions, already barely restrained, promptly went haywire when Joker took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

 

Haru forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.

 

“ Accept this for now as part of my gift, Miss Haru,” Joker said. His hand lingered against hers for an impossibly long duration before finally releasing it and scooping up the grinning Morgana. “ Until next time.”

 

Just before he leaped backwards with inhuman grace and serene deftness and disappeared over her balcony.

 

She could only remain standing still, hand clutched near her thumping chest.

 

How unfair and almost cruel that the Phantom Thief was so easily able to steal her heart.

 


End file.
